Meet The College Dropouts Who Founded Watch Brand MVMT

Read on for their secrets to success.

At 25 years old, Jake Kassan and Kramer LaPlante have established themselves as entrepreneurial aces, having started and grown an accessories business worth millions over the course of just three years. What’s more, they did it all without the aid of any investors and without a single college degree between the two of them.

Jake and Kramer first met as college roommates while attending different schools in Santa Barbara, California. Jake, who attended Santa Barbara City College, was studying marketing, while Kramer, who went to the University of California, Santa Barbara, was majoring in communications. Coincidentally, neither of them would finish their degrees: Jake dropped out in 2010 after one year of classes and Kramer later followed suit in 2013 with just one semester of college to go. “Dropping out was the best decision I’ve ever made and is something I’ll never regret,” says Jake. “I realized that I wanted to create something bigger than what the college degree would allow,” adds Kramer.

So, in 2013, the duo set out to do just that and launched MVMT, which, at the time, centered solely on quality watches at a fair and affordable price. “We’d always been huge luxury watch fans and discovered that there were a lot of millenials who wanted the same thing we were missing from the market,” says Kramer. “They wanted a high-end, minimalist timepiece but couldn’t justify spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on one. We disrupted the status quo in hopes of creating a watch for our generation.”

Through Indiegogo — a website that allows individuals to raise money for various causes or projects through crowdfunding — the friends were able to raise enough money to launch their business one hundred percent on their own terms. “When we started MVMT we didn’t want anyone to tell us how it needed to be done and knew that Indiegogo would allow us flexibility and room for expansion,” explains Jake, who, along with Kramer, came from an entrepreneurial background. “We were able to bring in a lot of capital to fund our growth without giving equity away form outside investors.” To get people interested in donating to their company, they listed watches at $59 on their original Indiegogo page and also included a YouTube video that explained their brand mission. Although their initial fundraising goal was $15,000, they exceeded their goal by more than tenfold, reaching a total of $219,898. To this day, they remain independently owned and operated. “We really encourage other young business people to go the crowdfunding route,” says Kramer. “Because of it, we’ve been able to deliver on our promise to create a quality brand with quality materials at a fair price.”

Their offerings — which now includes watches and sunglasses for both men and women — all retail for $150 or less and boast a sleek, modern aesthetic that rivals many high-end competitors. As the guys put it, their designs are “high-quality, minimalist products at revolutionary prices” that are inspired by “aspirational lifestyles characterized by a quest for quality.”

This brand ethos perfectly translates to their social media presence, namely their Instagram account, which boasts crisp, professional images of their products shot against backgrounds featuring stunning locations. Whether it’s a watch displayed on the wrist of a man overlooking a striking cityscape, or sunglasses perched on the nose of a fashionable woman, the photos in their feed allude to a rich lifestyle of adventure, luxury, and style. “Social media has always played a pivotal role in both direct sales and our growth as a brand,” says Jake, who notes that their brand hashtag, #jointhemvmt, hugely helped them engage their consumers and even went viral. “Instagram in particular is an amazing discovery platform for potential customers in our target market to connect with us, as well as a great tool to showcase product.”

As for their advice to other aspiring business owners? “Always let the ‘no’s’ fuel you. People get so discouraged when their idea is shut down and immediately develop doubt. Don’t do that. If two college dropouts can do it, anyone can.”

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